Super Bowl: Travis Kelce owes football success to brother Jason
Donna Kelce greets her sons, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, left, and Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce during Super Bowl 57 Opening Night on Monday in Phoenix. Credit: AP/Matt York
PHOENIX — Travis and Jason Kelce will become the first set of brothers to face each other in a Super Bowl on Sunday. And Travis wouldn’t be here, probably wouldn’t be in the NFL, if not for his big brother.
The gregarious Kelces and their mother, Donna, have been the centers of attention leading up to Super Bowl LVII.
Jason, the Eagles’ All-Pro center, and Travis, Kansas City’s All-Pro tight end, have told stories about getting into fights while growing up in Northeast Ohio, breaking furniture and windows — all of the usual stuff two big, rough-and-tumble sports-playing brothers would do.
Most of the fights were won by Jason, but when Travis was at his lowest point, his brother fought for him.
Jason was a senior on the University of Cincinnati football team and Travis was a sophomore when he was suspended in 2010 for testing positive for marijuana.
“I got kicked off the team for having a little bit too much of fun off the field,” Travis said.
Travis lost his scholarship. He had no place to stay. Jason took him in and let him stay in his off-campus apartment.
“I wasn’t paying rent,” Travis said. “He was helping me with food. I was literally living off of him for quite a while down there. He was my lifeline.”
Travis was convinced that “football was over” for him. But Jason was committed to helping his brother get back on the team.
Jason had multiple conversations with numerous coaches and other members of Cincinnati’s staff. Jason vouched for Travis and tried to convince them to give him another chance. Travis eventually was reinstated.
“I’m forever in debt to this guy for putting his name on the line, putting his honor on the line to get me another chance to play football,” Travis Kelce said. “When I say I owe it all to him, I really do.”
Then-Eagles coach Andy Reid drafted Jason in 2011, and Travis returned that year and recommitted himself to football. He got his scholarship back, but he violated team rules again in the spring semester before his senior season, according to the Kansas City Star.
The Star reported that Travis’ college coach, Butch Jones, called Jason, who asked Jones not to give up on his brother. Jones wasn’t planning to do that, but he disciplined Travis and detailed some guidelines that he had to meet to return to the team.
One was to make the dean’s list, which Travis did.
“Just doing things you didn’t typically see Travis Kelce doing his first couple of years at Cincinnati,” he said of himself.
Travis said it helped him mature and started him on a path that led him to becoming more responsible and professional. It has carried over to the NFL.
An eight-time Pro Bowler, he caught 110 passes for 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns this season. It was his seventh straight year with at least 1,000 receiving yards.
He has been the best tight end in the league and an equally good teammate, according to everyone in Kansas City.
Patrick Mahomes said he and Kelce “are like brothers.” They hang out all the time off the field and it’s helped them develop trust and chemistry on it.
“He’s one of the leaders in the locker room,” Mahomes said. “He’s one of the core guys that have been here for the entire run of Coach Reid. He’s the hardest-working guy in the locker room.”
It started with a phone call from Reid before the 2013 NFL Draft — and it involved Jason.
Reid called and asked Travis, “Are you going to screw this up, because I need a mature guy.”
Travis told him, “I’ll try to be the best tight end you ever had.”
Then Reid asked Travis to give the phone to his brother, who played for Reid his first two seasons in Philadelphia.
“I guess he just told [Jason], make sure you keep an eye on him for me,” Travis said.
Kansas City took Travis in the third round, and he’s lived up to his word. It helped having Jason in his corner.
On Sunday, the two brothers will be fighting again — for the same thing. Each has one Super Bowl ring. Jason wants bragging rights on Sunday, as he had after so many of their battles as kids.
“He’s already got enough,” Jason said. “He’s got more Pro Bowls, he’s going to the Hall of Fame as a first ballot [guy], arguably the best tight end of all time. He’s better looking. He’s better at dancing. Give me one thing, Trav. Let me have more Super Bowls.”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
